On the Origin of the Legends and Heroes of our Time, or the Preservation of Our World Through the Retelling of Fables.
The Everblack ---------------- Freedom, logic, impartiality. ' ' On the man known, through oral history and interviews, as: The Savior; The Demon; He Who Comes With the Dawn; The Soulflayer; The Madman. What follows are the gathered accounts, and scavenged notes, as taken from old scraps and old minds across this, our great world of Joro. There are some accounts that should be regarded as blatant myth, in order to continue the social order of the culture, or simply to deliver a moral story to the younger generations. It should be noted, however, that in most tellings of the legend, he is regarded as a hero. That is not to say that he is not ever considered the villain, just that it is more rare in most versions of the legend. From a short poem, written about this legendary character, as told to him by an unknown villager, written down in the 4th Century, and very obviously exaggerated, by the Eragastrian monk, Earlymong the Blind: ' ' What we, as researchers and those interested in the myths and legends may glean from this, is a probable hidden meaning behind every verse. We shall first, being as studious as we are inquisitive, go through the obvious meanings and interpretations first, then we shall begin with the analyzing of the text. The mastery of mockery is a common name given for the Great Devil, who thousands of years past was either a historical or allegorical figure for a hated king of some kind. It would make sense here that he would be set against the legendary heroes of old, as any, and nearly all, tales eventually end with the heroes slaying the evil king. This seems to be the most obvious conclusion we may draw from reading this, but for the more stubborn, or mystical minded, of our readers we would like to point you to Bethard and Gregol’s Compendium of Unknown Kings: Making the Known Unknowns into Known Knowns, Vol. 3. wherein the esteemed authors Stevin Bethard and Grogol Gregol give an exhausting account of the kings through time, and in particular, the kings around the Bladedome region, south of the Salt Flats, from three to five thousand years ago, and gives a great account of the war king, known only as The Bone-Thief, who used to use the bones of his enemies in crafting great war machines to demoralize his enemies. If that doesn’t sound like a master of mockery then perhaps you should not be reading this book, as I would assume there are children’s books more apt for your intellect. Further... Your mind wanders as the author continues to insult anyone who disagrees about the surface meanings of the poem. You skip ahead a few pages. As for what any reasonably intelligent person would agree with me on, the more obscure references tossed into this poem, I shall assume that the reader is learned in some religious history and theory, especially that of the Dwarven pantheon. The text above reads “I see you, I curse you to be my heart” but it fails to reference another obscure poem written a few thousand years even before Earlymong’s time, from which the line is ostensibly lifted, entitled “Leviathan.” This poem is from two different perspectives, that of the man, and that of the deity. It reads: ' ' The italics above are mine, and perhaps are coming from a third person narrator? Either way, however, the point remains that the wording changes ever so slightly in this version of the text. What begins as “I see you, I curse you to BE my heart” turns into “I see You, I curse you to my Heart.” I take the word “Heart” to mean something entirely different, perhaps a containment device built for the gods, or some kind of shielding? It shall go unknown to us scholars however, because it the rest of that collection has been lost to time. On the subject of this Hero’s titles, The Soulflayer epithet is a very, seemingly, violent name for a heroic type character. It should seem that characters that are good should get only good names, to fit better with their good deeds. However, as is the case in about 95% of history thus far, things get muddled along the way (See “Red’s Book of Egregious Lies” which then became a full on religion in the southern kingdoms of humanity). The term Soulflayer is simply a mistranslation of a mistranslation of an old unused dialect. Why he’s still called the Soulflayer in some regions of the world, I don’t quite know, though it is safe to assume that Soulflayer simply sounds good to the ears. Now, as to how someone may come about such a title, is complete conjecture, but looking at some other books dated to the time period, and slightly afterwards we may assume that this was a way of giving the hero a sort of subversive name for use around the authorities, who at the time had banned all forms of character worship. While some of my readers would hate to have a history lesson at this juncture, it is critically important for you to understand where the title “Everblack” (which is the original meaning of his transliterated title “Soulflayer”) comes from and why it’s either the greatest compliment paid to a man, or the largest insult ever levied against someone. First of all, as was learned from Montequet’s “Gods of the Afterlife” is that for each deity, for each particular sect, down to the individual, there is a Paradise or a Hell waiting for you, depending on your deeds in this life. For instance, if you pledged your life to an evil deity, but took no joy from your actions, and had remorse, you would have some neutral afterlife where you would pay for your crimes as in an extremely monotonous way, like the tales of the king of who was punished for his deceit by forever pushing a rock up a hill, only to see it roll back down, for all eternity. There is a certain kind of justice in the afterlife, and you get what you deserve. Or, for another example, a goblin who had given their lives over to Shub’Niggurath, the Dark Queen, but always tried to help people as much as possible. The rules of the deities dictate that the rewards in the afterlife must be greater than the punishment in the material plane, though why a goblin would ever go against its base nature to kill and eat every other sentient being is beyond me at the moment. To reiterate, there is a place after death where everyone goes. It is seemingly inescapable. You have a soul in a body, that body dies, that soul moves on. However, as relayed through many oral histories and through the books written by Monteque and Boether, The Everblack is the Void between afterlives, where no god can touch you. It is, in its own peculiar way, the most powerful place in the multiverse, where nothing, save for the dark god of that cursed place, can get to you. The Everblack is a great and yawning darkness that repels the hands of the gods, and completely shrouds its charges in darkness. It has the dual honors of being the most frightening and the safest places throughout all of time and space. The Seer, Squilts the Hated, was said to have written this poem in the early -53rd century after the fall of Grunderland (5,439 years ago for the less historically minded among you). It is said that he was the only one who ever fully understood the magnitude of the Everblack. He went on to write a couple of well received plays after the publishing of his first book of poems. ' ' You’ve gained about all the knowledge you can from this book, at this juncture. You bookmark your spot and prepare for the siege. ' ' The Undying ------------------------------------- Goodness, honesty, passion ' ' Regarding the “Christ-like” figure of the character known to us as: The Morningstar; Abaddon; The Punisher; The Prince of Lies; Alpha; Omega; The Rock of Mount Vershoft; The Hammer. Perhaps the most varied of the three legendary archetypes, this character is sometimes told as a deity who has taken the shape of a mortal to save us from ourselves, but in other stories he is known as the most vile of creatures, able to trick the deities themselves into helping him. It was said about him, and in all versions of the story it was a him, that his guile knew no bounds, his trickery and lies were so deep and confounding (Tongue Twisters and Ice Lollies, By Kind Raubtier, pgs. 172-234) that he is said to have driven men insane with his words. In the stories he was such a good liar that he himself might not have been aware that he was lying. Interestingly, in another telling of a different legend with him as the main protagonist, he is said to have held an entire troll and orcish army at bay at a small city in the mountains, known as Mount Vershoft, and giving his life in the process. It is said that he, by himself, was able to hold not through magic, nor through divine gifts, but through sheer grit and resolve that he would not die while the townspeople still needed him. In short, he refused to die until he was assured that his death would be the only one. The following is an apocryphal conversation held between the hero and a monstrous cave troll that was, in the telling, said to be possessed of something rotten and evil. The text, as translated three times, comes out a tad on the melodramatic side, however, there is something to be said for the writing styles of the early kingdoms. ' ' ' ' The story, as is passed down through books, is cut off at this point, only picking up again five pages later as the hero of the story, the Rock of Mount Vershoft, finally succumbs to his battle wounds. In a slightly depressing note, he has his soul stripped from him by that very same demon that he had beaten earlier in the story through wit and wordplay. The demon had not kept his word about leaving the field of battle. Never trust a demon. Further, in a different telling of a different story of the same hero, so told in Jonathan Burley’s “Ravages of Time and Other Stories That Tickle the Heart,” he is seen as some kind of Savior Archetype, freeing the people from the shackles of their violent gods. This may seem to some as an allegory for something larger, the ideas of struggling with freedom vs tradition, but that in my studies it doesn’t seem as though this hero is the idealization of freedom, which would more thoroughly fit the so called “The Soulflayer” character as seen in the earlier volumes of this series (See the chapters on the “Freedom” archetype for more information). No, I believe that in the telling of this story that the Savior character is literally fighting deities for the good of the people. At the time it may have seemed more reasonable, I can only assume. The only portion of the story remaining appears to be the climax of the story. Odds are good, by the writing style, you aren’t missing anything of worth. ' ' However, as with each of the legends, there is a darker side to the so called Savior character; The Grim, or Samhain Grim as he is sometimes known. This is a cross generational and cross cultural story of a horrific beast that appears as the most vile thing to his viewers, who kills and steals souls for the forges and for his dark master who empowers him. He is evil given shape. He appears to be the personification of ideals and extremes, of every sort. Not much is known about this character, as it appears a great large portion of the texts have been removed, burned, or simply have gone missing. What we do have doesn’t tell a pretty story however. It tells the tale of a man, soulless and hateful at the world above, finally clawing his way to the material plane. It is an ugly tale and I would urge younger readers to put the book down now, as this is not something you want clouding up your dreams. Dreams have power, you know. ' ' Removal of their eyes gives my heart a sudden chill, I submerge them in formaldehyde to gaze upon a will. I will never die, For they have borne me in their blood. ' ' The Firewalker ---------------- Vengeance/Justice, generosity, RAGE ' ' With respect to the being who acts on a moral compass that centers around paying back, good and evil, and seemingly exists, as a storytelling device for the author, while still retaining characteristics fitting a hero. His titles, displayed here, are: The Beast; The Liberator; The Light of the Sky; Dawnbringer; Calamity; The Dragon Reborn. ' ' This, the most cryptic and enigmatic of the stories, comes from what appears to have been scribed on tree leaves from an extinct species of deciduous that is known to have only grown along a coastal region of our sister continent, Beatha, which was destroyed sometime around ~12,500 YA. A few things stick out from this simple fact: 1) What kind of tree existing, now or ever, has been able to resist the ravages of time for upwards of 15,000 thousand years? Time travel, as accepted by the consensus of the Magitek writers of our period, is impossible, so I believe that option to be thrown out. 2) Were it not written in three languages at once, the stories would never be told at all. 3) Who recorded these stories? There is no mention of a culture that lived along those coasts at that time. ' ' These points notwithstanding, it still remains that he is one of the great heroes and legends of this world. Whether or not he ever existed at all is immaterial. He is a cultural legacy that strides among gods for the most fear and awe he has brought to the people of Joro. The anger of the gods... The Dragon rode to war. As all of these exploits are recorded, really, on leaves, it is hard to guess which leaves have been lost or destroyed or are simply read out of context, or out of order from the rest of the story. With that in mind, I have worked some of the best minds, given the context of what I was forced to work with, and developed what we can assume to be a relatively clear picture of the stories, as they were written down. I have decided, for the best possible storytelling experience, to begin the chapter on the Justice archetype with the conclusion of his story. While some may see this as cheapening the history and any possible legitimacy lent to this character, I would disagree, for reasons that shall soon be apparent. This character type is a violent one, but as seen by his stirring, if vague, speech to what appear to be his troops, he obviously cares about them. I use the term “appear” because in none of the leaf fragments he is never recorded as actually having a discussion with his “brothers,” rather, it seems like they exist purely to give an outlet for the thoughts in the head of the Justice archetype. Or, they really were present in the story, but never actually said anything because they were unable? It is too difficult to tell with a guesswork model applied to the story. Further, it should seem that...words from this point on are written over by a long scribbling print. Father I know that you’ve witnessed a darkness in me, ‘neath the shadows of the old gallows tree. I’m but a sad reflection of my former humanity, this warped exaggeration from the darkest of dreams. I have been sent forth, me, your wrath in cleansing fire, to wipe clean your race of faceless liars. ...stly, the point remains that though these stories have a clear theme of redemption. More than any of the other characters, this one appears to be the burning need in all of the races to see justice done, and barring that, vengeance. His wrath seems to be everlasting, and indeed, that is precisely what the name Dawnbringer derives from, the idea of the Eastern peoples that the sun rising is an eternal process, and one which always exist, like the idea of justice among the more evolved of the sentient beings. On the subject of Dawnbringer, and back to the story on the leaves from which this chapter owes its existence, the very first piece that has been found, though not necessarily the first one in the chronological story, is what appears to be a sad tale, perhaps even an origin story. It is written quite abstract, and makes for analysis very difficult indeed. It is printed in full below. ' ' What makes this poem (which strangely still rhymes even through three different languages) so much different from the others is that this seems to reflect a real person’s suffering, not simply an author’s take on what grief may be, which lends a hint of credence to the rest of the stories, though it may simply be an unrelated story grafted into the arching theme of vengeance common to the Dawnbringer, or the Dragon, depending on the nationality talking about him. Despite my urge to comment on the above piece, it simply feels wrong to do so. One of the other, slightly more significant writings, involved in the collection found near the Western coast of Beatha is the story of the Dragon accepting his own divinity. It seems slightly satirical on his, or whomever the author was, part though. Whether this historical character claimed his divinity is not the point of this text however, so it will not even be bothered with. Rather, instead of thinking out about whether or not he was a deity, we, as scholars, must look at whether or not he believed he was the deity in question. This portion of the story, unlike the one above, will be slightly more commented upon because it is of a more scholarly nature. It reads: The text reads that he is the “creator,” however it is in the lower case, not arguing that he might be the who one created everything, but rather that he is a creator; one who is able to create. Next, he says that the world is his oyster, which appears to be a stock phrase for revealing to the reader the amount of power that he wields. Then, he says “though they worship me, their beloved, I still am not sure why,” which suggests a sort of inward confusion as to why others may consider him a deity, which clashes ever so slightly with the preceding sentence. The last portion simply states “I will fight and die for them.” The fact that this statement is in a future tense suggests some kind of knowledge of a time when he will fight and when he will die. The “them” in this passage is not clear, though it may be assumed that it is the same group as in the passage that began this chapter, his “brothers”. The fourth piece of leaf/parchment found is one of the more bleak ones, and has no purpose other than to make the reader feel down. At first glance. However, as with anything in any book that I write, there is always something more beneath the surface. He mentions something very curious that relates directly to the fable of the Morningstar, the archetype of passion. Both stories have a very small mention of “Black Valor,” a weapon of sorts that was said to be so horrendously evil that only the most pure could handle it safely, without fear of corruption. Further, there are some debates (between myself and some other less qualified scholars, who are but plebeians compared to my intellect) as to whether or not this story actually connects the three legendary characters together. I will let you read the passage, then I will direct you in the correct way of thinking. ' ' ' ' Conclude it all Conclude it all Conclude it all ' ' rest of the book is missing.